- An introduction and history of Jawaese - A dictionary of Jawaese terms - Jawa Number Chart - A Lessons section - Transcriptions of all Jawaese dialogue known to humankind - Alphabet and font gallery - Related links - Source section

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Jabbering JunkdealersJawaese 101:

An IntroductionJawaese is spoken by the Jawas of Tatooine. The first listen we got of this language was in Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope. Ben Burtt developed this language for the Star Wars saga. He was drawn to several African languages, in particular Zulu. Recording several individuals who spoke Zulu, Burtt wrote a script patterned on the various sounds he heard and had actors re-voice them for the films. The “recordings were sped up to raise the pitch and accelerate the flow of words” to give us the Jawa language that we are familiar with today. (1)HistoryThe Jawas share a common ancestor with the Tuskens of Tatooine. Baobab anthropologists have named these people the Kumumgah. The Kumumgahs split from a once singular tribe and evolved into the tall and fierce Tuskens and the short scavenging Jawas. Jawas have been described as having a rather pungent aroma that is a result of their natural skin chemistry. They travel in sandcrawlers, searching the desert wastes for anything they can salvage and resell such as droids or podracers parts. They are extremely clever when it comes to selling their goods but for the most part are fair in their dealings. A split of the original tribe also resulted in two different languages, Tusken and Jawaese. Jawaese unlike the rough barking of theTuskens, can be more easily learned by humans. Their language is spoken very quickly and has been described as jabbering. (1)

Replace these 'Basic' words in your daily life with 'Jawaese' words in these phrases.

Yesterday -> Neng ooka I went to school yesterday. I went to school neng ooka.

Friend -> Eyeta My friend and I went to the movies. My eyeta and I went to the movies.

Large -> Jar k’osa Jabba the Hutt is large. Jabba the Hutt is jar k’osa.

Stars -> Lopima There are millions of stars in the galaxy. There are millions of lopima in the galaxy.

Market -> Upezzo This little piggy went to market. This little piggy went to upezzo.

Transcript:

The dialogue spoken in the movie is slightly altered from that in the screenplay and other sources. I tried to keep the dialogue in chronological order as it appears in the films. Because the dialogue is written down by ear, spelling errors and omissions may occur. An interesting note about Jawaese is that not one phrase is subtitled on the bottom of the screen throughout the entire movies. (n/a) means that the Basic translation is not available.

EPISODE I: The Phantom Menace The following is text phonetically transcribed from the film version of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.

The Phantom Menace PC Game: The following is dialogue from The Phantom Menace PC Game by LucasArts. The spelling here is exact as it is NOT phonetically transcribed but the spelling appears on the screen as the dialogue was spoken.

The Episode I Racer PC Game: The following is dialogue taken from the Episode I Racer PC Game by LucasArts. If you have this game on your computer, these voice wavs can be found in the data section when you open the folder from the Program Files section on your computer. They are phonetically transcribed so spelling errors may occur.

EPISODE IV: A New Hope, Special Edition: The following is text phonetically transcribed from the film version of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. There’s a lot of Jawaese that was just too unintelligible to transcribe intermingled with what sounds I could make out. Transcribing Jawaese…not easy.

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